Today’s Plan:
- Library on Monday
- Review: What are we doing right now?
- Proposal Project
- Academic vs. Technical Writing
Library on Monday
We’re at a point now where I hope all of you have at least one peer-reviewed, academic article to read for the final paper (see more below). Make sure you look at my feedback on your Tues, Oct 23rd Self Assessment and Article Revision. That’s where I put my recommendations for scholarship.
I wanted to go over two tools I use for research:
We are meeting at the library, in room 303, on Monday. Librarian Stephanie Evers will give a more thorough presentation on locating academic sources using the library’s Summons system.
What Are We Doing Right Now?
Big picture: up to this point in the semester, you’ve been writing articles for medium.com. You’ve written four of them. The average length of these articles is around 700 words.
Now you are going to select one of them and expand it into an academic research paper. Chances are the material from your original argument will help you show there is a problem. Or it will help you generate a question. Now we are going to consult expert research on your question or problem. The end goal is paper of around 1800-2000 words.
On Monday, I covered strategies for reading dense academic arguments and discourse. On Wednesday, I got into a whirlwind regarding Corder, listening, ethics, and alterity and ended class without really going over the homework, so I am extending the due date on that homework until Monday.
Starting Wednesday of next week, I’ll be meeting with you to talk about your proposals and see if there’s anything you need as you begin drafting your papers.
Proposal Project
Your proposals are due Tuesday, November 6th, at midnight. Here is a link to the proposal template.
Upcoming Schedule
Below is a modified version of the schedule I shared last Friday. All conferences are in my office, Ross Hall, 1180D.
- Friday, Nov 1st: Introduce Proposal Project and Academic Reading
- Monday, Nov 5th: Library Meetings
- Wednesday, Nov 7th: Proposals Due Conferences
- Thursday, Nov 8th: Conferences
- Friday, Nov 9th: Conferences
- Monday, Nov 12th: MLA/APA citation
- Wednesday, Nov 14th: Creating a multimedia presentation
- Friday, Nov 16th: Complete academic research paper due in class for peer review
- Monday, Nov 19th: Optional class. Complete drafts of final paper due to me by Tuesday, Nov 20th at midnight
- Monday, Nov 26th Review: creating a multimedia presentation
- Wednesday, Nov 28th: Presentations #1-10
- Friday, Nov 30th: Presentations #11-20
- Monday Dec 3rd – Friday Dec 7th: Office hours availability to discuss revisions. Final papers are due Friday Dec 7th at 11:00am.
Quick Hit: Qualifying and Argument
Unfortunately, a lot of argumentation on TV and the Internet these days is framed in black and white. One side is right. One side is wrong. One approach is right. One approach is wrong. It makes for entertaining banter. But it isn’t how the world works.
Problems in the world require nuance, compromise, and are almost always colored gray. As researchers, you want to be sure you are qualifying your claims (acknowledging their limitations). In her fourth article, McKayla composed the following paragraph:
Homework in the lower grade levels (elementary school) is proven to have no benefits for the younger students. In the article “The great homework debate,” Christina Tynan-Wood states that the younger students aren’t developmentally ready for the work habits and time management skills that homework is suppose to teach. Alfie Kohn writes in his book “The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing” that homework in elementary school actually pushes students away from learning rather than improve academic performance. These topics are well proven that homework in elementary school has no benefits, because the studies show no impact only confusion in the kids.
Notice the first line–“is proven.” “Proven” gets repeated in the last line. That means that there is no researcher anywhere in the universe that would question this position. Which means that if I can go to Google Scholar or wherever and find one article arguing against the idea–in this case, one article arguing that there is even a fringe benefit to homework for elementary school students–then your whole argument comes under question. It likely falls apart.
McKayla needs to qualify this argument. Watch what happens if I make a few little changes:
Research suggests that homework in the lower grade levels, particularly elementary school, has negligible benefits for younger students. In the article “The great homework debate,” Christina Tynan-Wood states that the younger students aren’t developmentally ready for the work habits and time management skills that homework is suppose to teach. Alfie Kohn writes in his book “The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing” that homework in elementary school actually pushes students away from learning rather than improve academic performance. Students’ lack of intellectual development and the boring monotony of homework likely make excessive homework do more harm than good to academic achievement and growth.
Homework
If you didn’t complete your Academic Research Summary #1, please do. Then get to work on your proposal.
